Investing in Yourself Through Reading

One of the good habits we focus on rewarding in our youth program is reading. Some students come to us and they already love to read, others don’t have much of an interest. When I hear a student doesn’t like to read, I just think they haven’t found the right book yet.  Anything you’re interested in, anything you want to improve, has been put in a book.

Something we talk about in class is that if you read a book a week (roughly an hour a day), you’d get through about 50 books a year. 50 books a year for 10 years would be 500 books. Would that make you smarter? Would it help you when you go off to college? Definitely!

For Adults

It’s easy to say, sure if I was a kid I could read a book a week! They have all of the time in the world, and on top of that, their books are short and easy to read! But hey, you can do it too! And the secret sauce is taking advantage of what is called “found time.” Little bits of time through out our day when our brains are doing normally mind numbing tasks (commuting, dishes, folding laundry, yard work, etc).  Most of us in the Kyle area are probably on the roads commuting for at least an hour a day. With an audiobook, you can be exposed to some information that will change your life.

You can read (or listen) on health, habits, investing, becoming more disciplined, improving your communication skills, how to be a better friend/parent/partner, or learn about an inspiring person’s life. All written by experts in their fields. A lifetime of work for a lot of these people and their distilled wisdom is available to you for $15. Seems like a pretty good deal! And if you can’t (or won’t) make the investment in buying the books, keep in mind that you have a massive amount of reading material available to you at the Kyle Public Library.

Readers are Leaders

There’s a quote from Benjamin Franklin that goes, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” When he was a young apprentice, he would pass on purchasing a beer and meat at lunch to save his money to buy books. Part of the reason he was a founding father is because he was a self-made man who was financially independent and didn’t have to be a work! He invested in himself, and it paid off in more ways than he probably could’ve ever imagined. Why couldn’t it be the same for you? Oh, and do you know where I learned that about Franklin? In a book!

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Dojo Kyle is the top martial arts school in Kyle/Buda. Founded in 2011 by Ryan Shinto, Dojo Kyle offers classes for kids ages 5 and up designed to develop the critical building blocks they need for school excellence and later success in life. Dojo Kyle’s adult program is structured as a complete fitness and conditioning program for adults  who want to lose weight, get (and stay) in shape or learn self-defense in a supportive environment.

Will Caldwell is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and Judo black belt. He graduated from Texas State University and became involved in martial arts while in college. He was one of Ryan Shinto’s first students at Dojo Kyle and believed so much in the life changing results of training (from experiencing it himself!), that he was offered a larger role at the school and became part owner- dedicating his time and energy to teaching and helping people grow through martial arts!